1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a catching tool for baseball or softball, and more particularly to a catching tool for baseball or softball capable of exerting an improved performance in catching a ball by improving a structure between a web part (connected part) provided between a thumb stall and a forefinger stall, and a ball-receiving leather of a glove main body.
2. Description of the Background Art
A conventional structure of a catching tool for baseball or softball (hereinafter, may be referred to as glove) is described below. A surface leather of the glove is obtained in such a manner that peripheral edges of a ball-receiving leather having a substantially five-finger shape and a back leather obtained by sewing parts formed from a plurality of leathers so that five finger stalls are formed are sewn together, except for a hand inserting part, so that grain sides of the both leathers face inward, and the sewn leathers are turned over so that the grain sides face outward.
A lining leather of the glove is obtained in such a manner that peripheral edges of a palm leather cut in a size smaller than that of the surface leather and having a substantially five-finger shape and a back-side leather obtained by sewing parts formed from a plurality of leathers so that five finger stalls are formed are sewn together, except for a hand inserting part, so that grain sides of the both leathers face inward.
A core formed from felt or the like, a shock absorbing member, and the like are inserted into a predetermined part of the surface leather, and the predetermined part is impregnated with oil. Thereafter, the lining leather is inserted, and the hand inserting parts of the surface leather and the lining leather are joined with each other with a leather string. Thereby, a main body of the glove is formed. A web part separately formed (ball-receiving part) is also provided between a thumb stall and a forefinger stall of the glove main body, and the web part, thumb stall, and forefinger stall are joined with one another with a leather string. Then, the production of the glove is completed.
So far have been disclosed different structures in which the web part is improved. For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 10-151234 discloses a web part in which the ball-receiving part is formed in such a manner that a horizontal bar is provided so as to extend from an edge of the thumb stall through an edge of the forefinger stall, a vertical bar is penetrated through from a substantially central part of the horizontal bar through a base part between the thumb stall and the forefinger stall, and horizontal bars separately formed are provided with respect to the vertical bar from substantially central parts from the thumb stall and the forefinger stall. Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 08-005734 discloses a web part provided with enough plasticity and extendability to naturally a form pocket for receiving a ball in such a manner that a plurality of slits respectively concentrically placed in different groups are provided at a central part and in a periphery of the central part, minimum intervals between the central part and the respective slits of the particular group are substantially equal, and the minimum intervals are different in each group.
However, in the structures of the conventional web parts disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 10-151234 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 08-005734 and the like, the web part and the glove main body are formed from separate members and thereafter integrated, which inevitably generates gaps, steps, joined parts and the like between the glove main body (more specifically, the base part between the thumb stall and the forefinger stall on the ball-receiving leather of the glove main body) and the web part. The presence of the uneven parts due to the gaps, steps, joined parts and the like on the surface of the glove in contact with the ball when the ball is caught reduces an area in which a surface of the ball having a spherical shape and the uneven surface of the glove are in contact with each other. As a result, the ball could not be held firmly enough, which disadvantageously deteriorated a ball-catching performance of the glove.